Russell's mother had a friend who worked at Ford Models agency, and Russell decided to sign with that agency in 2003. She later moved on to DNA Model Management in 2006, switched to Women Management in 2008, and then moved to Elite Model Management in 2011.

Since beginning her modeling career part-time at the age of 16, Russell has worked with numerous successful photographers including Steven Meisel, Craig McDean, and Nick Knight among others, in such magazines as American, French, Italian, Spanish, German and Japanese Vogue, W, Self Service and Numéro. She has featured in advertising campaigns for companies including Ann Taylor, Benetton, Louis Vuitton, Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, Armani, Oscar de la Renta, and Yves Saint Laurent.

In October 2012, Russell gave a presentation entitled "Looks aren't Everything. Believe me, I'm a Model" at TEDx Mid-Atlantic, which is one of TED's 20 most popular talks of all time. In it, she described herself as having won "a genetic lottery," emphasized the selection and styling of models on the basis of a bias on looks and skin colour, and added: "it was difficult to unpack a legacy of gender and racial oppression when I am one of the greatest beneficiaries". The presentation was covered by The Huffington Post, which described the TED video as "refreshingly frank," and CNN, which invited Russell to a roundtable discussion.

Description: Vanessa Jay is a page 3 model from London, United Kingdom. She is 5’10, blonde, blue eyes and a full, voluptuous body. “I went to an all-girls school,” she says, either by way of introduction or explanation. “When I left school, I got into beauty pageants. I won a Page 3 Girl contest in a local paper, and ever since then, I’ve been modeling.” Vanessa has a wide range of modeling experience – she’s done fashion and editorial as well as glamour – and if you ask her, her Playboy spread came not a moment too soon. “Whether they admit it or not, being a Playboy model is a woman’s dream,” she says. “It’s so sexy, and very much at the top of its game. Who wouldn’t want to do it?” When she’s not in front of the camera, Vanessa is out with her girlfriends – going out for dinner and a spot of gossip over glasses of wine. “We talk about men, obviously,” she quips. “I appreciate a beautiful woman – I mean, how could I not – but I’m definitely into men.”

Description: Vanessa Jay is a page 3 model from London, United Kingdom. She is 5’10, blonde, blue eyes and a full, voluptuous body. “I went to an all-girls school,” she says, either by way of introduction or explanation. “When I left school, I got into beauty pageants. I won a Page 3 Girl contest in a local paper, and ever since then, I’ve been modeling.” Vanessa has a wide range of modeling experience – she’s done fashion and editorial as well as glamour – and if you ask her, her Playboy spread came not a moment too soon. “Whether they admit it or not, being a Playboy model is a woman’s dream,” she says. “It’s so sexy, and very much at the top of its game. Who wouldn’t want to do it?” When she’s not in front of the camera, Vanessa is out with her girlfriends – going out for dinner and a spot of gossip over glasses of wine. “We talk about men, obviously,” she quips. “I appreciate a beautiful woman – I mean, how could I not – but I’m definitely into men.”

She has been featured on the cover of Elle, French Revue des Modes, Harper's Bazaar and V, as well as on editorials of Vogue (UK), CR Fashion Book, Harper's Bazaar, Interview, Marie Claire, Numéro, Purple, U and Vision China.

“I WANT TO break the rules of what it means to be hot and sexy and a badass,” says actress Nosheen Phoenix. On HBO’s dark political comedy The Brink, Nosheen plays a frisky Urdu interpreter to Tim Robbins’s secretary of state. Indeed, the London native cites her conservative upbringing by Pakistani parents as fueling her rebellious fire. “We live in a time when you can finally express yourself, even if you’re naked. I hope to inspire others who come from backgrounds where they’ve been told they can’t do something,” she says. “I’m here to make a difference.”